Casey Caved

Casey Cagle, after working to browbeat the House into accepting the Senate’s budget, getting it passed unanimously by both bodies, and rallying conservatives to him, has sent everyone down the river.

He’s struck a deal with the Governor.

The Senate will not override the Governor’s veto.

Now, after giving us lots of sound bites about saving money and tax cuts, we’ll have a special session and spend lots more money in the process.

Way to cave, Casey. Way to cave.

BTW, as has been pointed out in several places, the Georgia Constitution requires that once one House has successfully voted to override the Governor’s veto, the other House must immediately deal with it. Don’t hold your breath for that to happen.

A friend suggested the following:

Cagle Positions During the Budget Battle:
I’ll have no new spending.
Okay, I’ll give you this long list of spending that’s fine with me.
I want tax breaks.
Sure Governor, your pork is fine with me and screw the tax cuts. I’ll uphold your veto.

And people are saying Sonny’s trying to get noticed for a potential VP spot?! Who’s blowing that smoke up his keister?

Why is it that, if the budget was so inadequate all along, Sonny wasn’t involved in this process earlier? Why weren’t his budget staffers communicating with House and Senate leaders? Why are none of these idiots talking to each other down there? It’s like Keystone Cops!

Does anyone know if the Senate has the votes to override if it comes up? Casey is a bit more pragmatic than his counterpart in the other house. I don’t know how many Democrats want to override, and I’m not sure all the Republicans want to officially rebuke the Governor, however well deserved it may be.

Casey’s mode of operation thus far has been to avoid a recorded vote unless he’s sure it’s going to matter. There’s no reason to put Senators on record against the Gov if the total number of votes aren’t there for it to stick.

What I don’t get is that the House and the Governor appeared to be together on the supplemental budget at the beginning of this battle. Now, the Governor and the Senate seem to be chumming up against the House. Am I missing something?

Listen, it is indeed a little more complicated than Casey barging in to Sonny’s office and delivering an override. It doesn’t exactly work that how. However, what is driving this is politics through and through. Don’t be fooled by what’s on the surface. Nothing going on right now has anything to do with 2007-2008. Sonny has to be mindful of being a lame duck and what he’s going to do after he realizes no one in Georgia likes him anymore, and Casey knows he will have a constant opponent in Richardson for the next couple of years.

I’m not excusing any of the actions – personally, I think it’s all an absurd waste and all of that are proving their worthlessness. But, I just want to make sure everyone fully understands that overriding a veto is not the easiest thing in the world. The world of veto overrides opens up a completely different world of politics that does not fade at the end of a legislative session. Trust me.

With that being said, if Sonny wouldn’t let his stubborness guide his veto decisions, then this wouldn’t be an issue.

Shame on all of them, but especially Sonny. As far as I and most Georgians are concerned, he’s a lame duck whose time is running out.

omg–i am so dissappointed in both sonny and casey–i am beside myself–did sonny forget he switched parties–is he this petty–is richardson actually going to end up being the one w/ any manhood in the bunch???